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September072012

The Best Advice about Choosing a Roofing Contractor… Anywhere

Roofing Gainesville Fl
Hi, my name is Franklin, and you’re obviously reading this article
because you are looking for a roofing contractor. Just a couple of
things you can do to make sure you are not only getting the best price
but also finding someone that will do a good job on your re-roofing or
repair. This video is the first in a series designed to help you pick
out a good qualified roofing contractor in your area. I will walk you
through step by step on how to do this in an unbiased fashion.

Firstly,
hopefully you are getting quotes from a couple of different roofing
contractors, that’s always a good idea. If you have a friend that has
had their roof done and was happy with the job, it’s probably a good
idea to include that roofer in the mix. Also just a couple of little
quick tips to start, only call a contractor one time, if you are a
potential new customer and you have to call a contractor twice to get
them to call you back, immediately eliminate them. Here’s the logic,
if you are a potential new customer and companies really need new
customers to stay in business, and they don’t call you back when you
call as a new customer, imagine how they are going to treat you if you
have some kind of an issue after the job is done. So only call the
contractor once.

Roofing Gainesville FlOkay, you have had a few contractors come out
and now you need to narrow down your selection. You need some basic
credentials from a roofer before you should consider hiring them.

The
three critical things they must have are 1. A current contractor’s
license, 2. Current liability insurance and 3. Proof they are bonded, so
you are not stuck if they mess up the job. You need to see proof on
all three of these items: contractors license, liability insurance and
current bonding. This should not be a big deal for your contractor to
show you these items – you need to protect yourself.

Here’s
the biggest thing that people mess up on when hiring any contractor –
references, they don’t get any or they get the wrong ones.

What
do you mean Franklin “the wrong ones?” Get three references – but I
don’t want you to just ask for a list of three, because that will get
you a handpicked list of their three best customers.

What you
need to ask for is the contact information from their last three
customers. This is the only way you control who the contractor refers
rather than them. If they can’t do this, it tells you that they have a
problem and just automatically eliminate them.

Now here’s the
key to make this strategy work. Don’t just get the names, but actually
call them; you must actually call all three references.

Okay
now that you have picked out your potential roofers, you need to decide
what kind of roofing material do you want on your house? Slate? Tile?
Metal Roofing? Asphalt Shingles? Architectural Asphalt Shingles? If
you are looking at economy, asphalt shingles are your best bet. There
are a lot of colors to choose from and many different quality
variations.

They are a lot of advancements in asphalt shingles
now and for just a bit more you can upgrade to architectural asphalt
shingles which have a variety of different looks and can add a lot of
value to your home. Slate is very expensive and not generally
recommended unless you have a very high end home,

Metal roofing
has come a long way and is terrific in hot climates as it reflects
heat, and of course there is a lot of choices in tile as well. Discuss
this over with your roofer and they will be able to assist you in
finding the right roofing material that fits both your budget and your
style choices.

Find out about warranties on the material and
the warranties from the roofer, these are two separate things. Once you
have picked all this out, then get it all in writing before they
start. You need a complete proposal as to what they will do, when they
will do it, how long will it take, exactly how much it will cost and
what are the warranties on their work.

Now it’s time for the new roofing job to start; let’s talk a bit about what to expect during the roofing process.

A
roofing job generally takes about two days; of course dependent on
size, material and complexity, but during this time, your house is going
to be turned upside down.

Make sure and take before and after
pictures of your roof. You are going to want to cover any valuable
plants that are near the edge of the roof and point these out in advance
to the contractor.

It’s going to be noisy during those two or
three days and it can sometimes get messy depending on the contractor.
We are pretty good, but some are less tidy. Make sure you discuss this
with your contractor in advance.

Also, although all the pounding
is going on outside the house, you are going to want to make sure to
secure any fragile items inside your home as there is a lot of pounding
and there will be a lot of noise and vibrations coming through the
roof. Securing your fragile items will save you some potential
heartbreak later. Then you will probably want to take off during the
day as it will be pretty darn noisy.

However you will want to stay nearby and accessible as questions may arise during the job.

I
want to walk you through the final inspection. Don’t pay the final
amount until you have gone through and checked out the roof thoroughly.

Now if you have followed our series so far, you are protected
as you picked out one of the good guys going in, but you will always get
a bit faster response if you get things fixed at the time rather than a
call back.

Check out everything from every side of the
house. Is anything sticking up anywhere? Is there any debris left
around the house you need cleaned up? Is there any damage to the
exterior walls they need to fix or to the landscaping? Do you have any
other questions?

If everything is in order, then you can make
the final payment to your contractor and congratulations on your
beautiful new roof! I hope you have found this article helpful,